Electronic entertainment devices, such as DVD players, CD players, DVRs, gaming consoles, etc., provide for playback of multimedia content, such as movies, music and games, by reading and processing data of a data file, typically a multimedia data file, stored on a storage media. The storage media may be permanently contained within the entertainment device, such as in the form of a hard disk. Alternatively, the storage media may be portable, such as in the form of a DVD, CD, memory card, flash device, USB memory device, etc., inserted into an external drive of the entertainment device.
Some electronic entertainment devices include communications capabilities, such that a multimedia data file may be downloaded and then stored on an internal or a portable storage media for subsequent playback, or streamed for immediate playback. In addition, some sophisticated electronic entertainment devices, such as typically found in a home theater entertainment system, can be coupled to another entertainment device, such as a video IPOD, and provide for playback of a multimedia data file stored on a storage media within the coupled entertainment device on, for example, a television that is a part of the home theater system.
Occasionally, one or more portions of a multimedia data file, which has been, or was intended to be, stored on a storage media, cannot be read without error or at all by an entertainment device, or actually is missing from the storage media. For ease of reference, the term “unreadable data” as used in this application constitutes: any portion of a data file stored on a storage media that cannot be read from the storage media, for example, due to damage to the storage media; any portion of a data file intended to be stored on a storage media but which was in fact not actually stored on the storage media, for example, due to a manufacturing defect in the storage media, or errors occurring during download of data for writing or the writing of data on the storage media; or any portion of a data file intended to be stored on a storage media but which was stored in a corrupted or incomplete form on the media, such that the portion, although being readable, cannot be corrected by error correction techniques available on the entertainment device.
In circumstances where the multimedia data file on a storage media includes unreadable data, the entertainment device cannot playback the content of the multimedia data file at all, or playback of the file stops or becomes disrupted when the portion of the storage media corresponding to the unreadable data of the file is encountered during processing of the data read from the storage media. For example, a portable storage media, such as a CD, DVD or gaming disc, may become scratched or otherwise damaged, or alternatively contain a manufacturing defect, such that an optical drive of an entertainment device, such as a CD player, DVD player or gaming console, cannot read any, or can read only portions, of the data of the data file corresponding to locations on the disc containing the scratch or defect. Depending on the entertainment device and its error correction capabilities, and also the content contained in the multimedia file, the audio data file on a CD, such as song, or the audio and video data file on a DVD, such as a movie, containing the scratch or defect may not at all be playable, or the playback of the song or movie may skip over the portion of the data file corresponding to the unreadable data, such that playback continues at the next portion of the data file that is not unreadable. When playback of a multimedia data file from a storage media is in any way not error free, and an individual determines that the cause is the storage media and not the entertainment device, the individual may consider that the storage media, such as a CD, DVD or gaming disc, is no longer useful for pleasing playback.
Currently, if an individual finds that a data file on a storage media includes unreadable data, the individual must obtain a new copy of the entire data file, such as by purchasing a new or obtaining a replacement portable storage media e.g., CD, DVD, or downloading the entire data file from a multimedia server, e.g., ITUNES, over a communications network, such as the Internet, to provide that the individual can enjoy playback of the entire content contained in the data file without error or interruption. Thus, the entire data file must be replaced to provide for playback of the content in the intended manner, even if the unreadable data on the storage media actually constitutes only a very small portion of the multimedia data file.
Therefore, there exists a need for method and system for easily obtaining replacement data corresponding to unreadable data of a data file on a storage media and using the replacement data during playback or execution of the data file.